A blog for Idaho job seekers and employers

Monthly Archives: August 2015

Information provided in this article has been gathered from various sources throughout the state, including professional sources, news releases, weekly and daily newspapers, television and other media.

Hagadone Hospitality plans to build a 200-room hotel tower to adjoin with The Coeur d’Alene Resort. The new tower will bring total resort capacity above 500 rooms, which is considered a key number to book large conferences and events. (Source: Coeur d’Alene Press)

Viking Construction’s proposed construction of an 87-lot subdivision in Post Falls received city council approval. The new subdivision will consist of single family lots spanning 37 acres. (Source: Coeur d’Alene Press)

AccraFab, a Washington-based manufacturer, and North Idaho College failed to reach an agreement on the sale of 11.4 acres of land at the center of AccraFab’s effort to relocate to Coeur d’Alene. Negotiations ended after neither side was willing to concede on a $65,000 price difference. (Source: Coeur d’Alene Press)

Idaho’s median hourly wage ranks seventh to last among the 50 states. Almost one in five Idaho jobs are in food preparation, serving and sales and related occupations. At first, it might appear that Idaho’s low wage ranking is the result of too many food prep and sales jobs, which require less education and training and typically pay far less than Idaho’s median wage of $14.93 an hour. But that story is incomplete.

Best known for potatoes and dairy, agriculture has long been viewed as the staple of Idaho’s economy. While agriculture continues to play an important role, manufacturing has quietly become one of the leading industries driving the economy forward. In recent years Idaho has gained a unique competitive advantage in the industry with an increased concentration of manufacturing jobs being added to the economy. Although growth in manufacturing has struggled nationally, Idaho is poised to see continued growth in the industry.

Since the end of the recession in 2010, Idaho’s manufacturing industry has fueled the state’s economic expansion. Of the jobs added to Idaho’s economy between 2010 and 2014, manufacturing had the second highest growth rate at 12.7 percent – nearly doubling the state’s total job growth of 6.9 percent. The 6,700 jobs added in manufacturing accounted for 16 percent of the state’s total job growth since the end of the recession.

Idaho’s economy and population are heavily exposed to fires, both literally and figuratively. Numerous factors make the state exceptionally vulnerable to the effects of wildfire. In a literal sense, a large share of Idaho’s population lives in areas with no barriers against forested areas, giving a potential fire an easy conduit to burn from the forest to residential areas. According to analysis of U.S. Census data, this makes Idaho’s population the most vulnerable of any state when it comes to wildfires. In addition, the size and importance of Idaho’s recreation and logging industries make local economies susceptible to damage from wildfires.

2015 has been a severe year for forest fires. According to the National Interagency Fire Center (https://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/nfn.htm), fires across the nation in 2015 have burned three times the acreage as the 2014 fire season did. In fact, year-to-date, 2015 is the second worst fire season in the past decade.

If you search the Internet for “college rankings” you’ll get hundreds of results, including rankings of best colleges from well-known sources such as US News & World Report, Princeton Review and the Washington Post. Rankings from lesser-known sources such as Mother Jones, SB Nation and various blogs and Facebook pages also exist, along with worst-colleges lists, rankings of online schools and lists of schools rated solely on athletic performance, weather, parking and concert venues. It seems like everybody else knows best where YOU should take this important next step in your life!

Take control of the decision by knowing the specifics about schools that also take your personal requirements into consideration.

One in eight Idahoans who live in a rural area works for the federal, state or local government, not including education.

For some rural communities, government jobs are essential for their economic health and offset increases in low-paying, service-oriented jobs. Many government jobs pay higher average wages and attract a skilled and educated workforce. Additionally, since the vast majority of government wages flow into a community from outside sources, these jobs function as a source of basic income for rural economies, creating wealth inside the community rather than simply recirculating it, as many service jobs do.

Compared with the seven urban counties in Idaho, the share of jobs in government is greater in the rural area of every region except south central Idaho.

When looking at the share of wages flowing into the community from state, federal and local governments, wages in every region except the rural areas of south central and southeastern are greater than the share of government employment. In other words, looking at employment number alone understates the importance of these jobs, but because almost 85 percent of these wages come from state or federal sources, these wages serve as an economic base similar to a mine or paper mill.

With the nation’s unemployment rate hovering just above 5 percent, employers are finding it difficult to recruit and keep talented workers. Baby boomers will continue retiring over the next 25 years, leaving both a shortage of workers and a deficit of valuable traditional skill sets. Employers are looking for ways to attract and keep the transitioning generation of workers.

Earlier this summer, the Idaho Department of Labor Kootenai County office held a workshop for area employers about building succession plans as one means of keeping those talented workers.

Succession planning involves identifying and developing current employees with the potential to fill key leadership roles in the business.